An Uphill Battle

Burger at Home Fries

I've done the ride from Mercer Island (suburb of Seattle) to Snoqualmie Pass a few times now but the ride on Saturday seemed especially long.  The route I take is fifty percent gravel and ascends slightly more than five thousand feet - for the most part it's a nearly constant low grade climb.

Normally mile sixty marks the beginning of a two mile long tunnel, but when I arrived two days ago the entrance was closed off with a chain link fence; a sign noted "Tunnel Closed, Open in the Spring."  Spring started three weeks ago, and due to a crazy low snow year the ground has been free of the white stuff for over a month and a half.  Oh well, I had plenty of food and half a bottle of water; it was time to find another way over the Pass.



Crossing Humback Cr

I descended the rail road grade (John Wayne Pioneer Trail/Ironhorse State Park) a mile and a half to the Annette Lake trail.  I figured that it couldn't be too far to the trail head so I started down the single track trail - in the saddle.  I made it about twenty feet: the trail was simply too rutted, rocky, muddy and steep to descend on my cross bike.  It was hike a bike time.  The first group I passed on their way up was a family with three kids under the age of seven led by a tiny white poodle.  I figured that the parking lot had to be close.  The trip down to the trail head was around a mile and a half wherein I passed a significant number of curious day hikers.

A short descent from the trail head took me to the Denny Creek Road.  From here it's a five mile ascent up to The Pass.  I love this road, it's smooth, scenic and, due to a couple of downed trees, nearly devoid of automobile traffic.

When I reached the Pass I stopped in to check out the Pass Life development and was happy to see a new coffee shop and even happier to see a new brewpub - DruBru.  I was tempted to stop in but I was running late so I dropped down the east side and coasted into the cabin.  Time for a beer in front of the fire.   



Thanks Darryl
 

Timely

In 1960 President-elect John F. Kennedy wrote an article for Sports Illustrated titled The Soft American.  Odd how something written 55 years ago could seem so timely:

http://www.ihpra.org/soft_american.htm

..."intelligence and skill can only function at the peak of their capacity when the body is healthy and strong; that hardy spirits and tough minds usually inhabit sound bodies."

John F. Kennedy

King Cage

Some cool American made water bottle cages.  Available in both Stainless and Ti from King Cage in Durango, CO. 

They have a cool flask cage; a nice addition to a bike on these cold winter rides.  Even comes with the flask.

Metal Search

Seattle is a fascinating city and even though I’ve lived here for twenty six years I still feel as though I’ve barely scratched the surface.

A South Hill still life

Earlier this week I went in search of a substantial steel “T” section for a massive pine countertop that I’m making for the third store in my friend Bianca’s chain of Jujubeet juice bars.  You can’t just go to Home Depot and steel and so I had to some digging, but eventually I found myself navigating the maddening dead ends and gravel roads of the industrial area known as South Park in search of Seidelhuber Iron and Bronze Works (this place has been in business for 108 years- one of Seattle's continuously running businesses).

I was a little nervous entering a diamond plated door on which a handwritten sign read “beware yard dog on duty” but once inside the cluttered office filled with equipment from the seventies I met Heidi and she put me at ease.  I described what I needed and she led me out to the yard to find what I wanted amid well-organized racks of angle, square tube, channel and T sections.  I quickly found what I was looking for, Heidi said “how about twenty bucks,” as easy as that I had what I was looking for.

A major aspect of making stuff is knowing where to get the raw materials.  When it comes to metal, I now know where to go.

Bagged and Tagged

Matt just finished up a big production run and they are now all bagged, tagged and ready for shipment.  We now have full inventory at www.greenliteheavyindustries.com

Words

"I saw no point in being the richest man in the cemetery"

-Peter F. Drucker

If you have forty five minutes pick up Managing Oneself by Peter Drucker. In it's fifty pages are half a dozen things that I wish I'd learned thirty years ago.

Waves for Water Part II

Some more shots from the Waves for Water UCI Cylocross race on Sunday.

The coolest American in bike racing today - Adam Craig

Jamie Driscoll showing his characteristic head lean

Logan Owen leading the front runners

Waves For Water Cyclocross Race

Yesterday Melony and I went down to Ft. Steilacom in Tacoma to watch the Elite racers at the Waves for Water Cyclocross race.  This was a UCI (C2) race, so this was an opportunity to see how the big boys do it.  I especially went down to watch the huck fest hosted by my favorite American bicycle racer Mr. Adam Craig.  Steilacom is fairly non-technical but if anyone could find air it would be Adam.

I was happy to see Ben Berden hold on for the win.  Ben is one of the hardest working guys racing cross.

I'll trickle in a few shots at a time during the week.

Keeping it clean

Elite Men's winner Ben Berden

Howard and the Coffee Factory

What to you get when you combine Howard Schultz (Starbucks) with Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) - the new Starbucks Reserve here on Seattle's Capitol Hill.

Beans arrive at the brewing station from the roaster via copper tubes

I know it's cool to poo poo the big guys but I have to say this place is pretty awesome.  It's all copper and wood and steel, it's cool pure and simple.

In England they have these things called "follies," basically some unusual, whimsical structure built

The Dunmore Pineapple

by some rich guy as a lark.  He had the money so why not.  Well it seems to me that the Starbucks Reserve is kind of Harold's folly, and like I said it's pretty awesome.

After two bouts of sub-freezing temperatures Seattle is back to her dreary temperate self, and I took advantage of the rising mercury to roll out my bike and ride over to Capitol Hill for a cup.

Locally made chairs

The place was packed with tourists watching Seattle hipsters in the natural habitat.  I love hipster style by the way - but that can wait for another post.  I spent nearly fifteen minutes waiting for a cup of drip - wait they don't have drip so I went for the pour-over.  "Dark as ya got" I said in response to what roast I wanted.  In my opinion the best way to make coffee is to brew a full ten cup pot of drip, so right off the bat I was a little skeptical of what I would get.  A few minutes later a dude in a nice waxed cotton/leather apron brought me over a ceramic cup emblazoned with an "R" partially filled with perfect drinking temperature coffee.  Damn it was good.

I took a seat in a comfy chair, but then it was time to go - my daughter wasn't feeling well at school, time to go into nurse mode.

What I really like about the store is the fact that the furniture is all sourced locally.  The cool waxed cotton/leather aprons worn by all the employees (and there were a lot - on par with an Apple store) are also made by a Seattle company (I wish I could remember the name).  I'm happy that the big dogs are once again looking to the little dogs for craftsmanship and creativity.

How We Do It

Matt is finishing up a run of pants.  He's pretty fast on that machine:

Every Greenlite product is made in our Seattle workshop.

The Next Batch

Hard at work on the next production run of pants, knickers and shorts.  We're now using a double needle machine; I'm really happy with the results:

A Good Finsh

Last Sunday marked the end of my 2015 cyclocross season (I might race the recently

Tangled up at Marymore

announced UCI race in Stellicom but we’ll see) and I went out happy.  The previous race –the Starbucks GP and Marymore Park – was a total kerfungle.  I went down on the first lap and from that point on the wheels had totally come off the bus, I had no energy and almost DNF’d.  Had I not had the team tent to deal with I probably would have just rolled into the parking lot, threw my bike in the car and drove home.  Sunday’s race at Woodland Park proved to be a bit of a redemption.

Coming into Sunday’s race I was worried that I’d lost my mojo, so far I’d had a great season but maybe that was all I had – the tank was dry.  Somehow I’d managed to hold onto third for the series and all that I had to do to stay on the podium was finish in the top ten to hold on; I wasn’t sure it this was possible.

Chris and Doug fighting it out among the foliage

Hard rain and heavy winds had pounded the course all night and when I arrived at 7:30 the course was greasy mud covered in large maple leaves.  The MFG volunteers were hard at work raking leaves and setting tape and by the time my race came around the course was nearly devoid of leaves – but the mud remained.

Eighty one racers packed the starting line – a big turnout even by MFG standards.  Zac gave us the go ahead as a light rain began to fall.  I had a great start was sitting comfortably in third when we hit the first run-up.  Good thing I installed new fangs onto my shoes.  I tried to keep on my toes as I sprinted up the hill in hopes of preventing clogged cleats.  No just luck.  Oh well everyone else is in the same boat.

Woodland is a really good course for me, a big uphill, some flowy downhill and just enough twists and turns to keep you on your toes.  Jan passed me on the first uphill and was gone.  A mystery man was holding second, Luke third, Rob fourth and me fifth.  At the start of the second lap Rob started having problems and I moved into fourth with Dodi hot on my wheel.  Dodi eventually came around and despite my best efforts to hold on he slipped away.

Instead of being deep and grabby the mud at Woodland Park is shallow and greasy.  It also has a propensity to clog treads and pack cogs: by the second lap the dense mud had me reduced to two working gears.

The gear deficit only became a problem on the road section, but it didn’t seem to cost me any places so I really can’t complain.  I’m sure my competition had similar issues.

Near the end I was passed by an HSP guy, I held on to him fairly closely but in the end he took fifth and I settled for sixth.

I have to say that this was a super successful race.  At the start I didn’t know where I stood, but by the end I knew that I was still able to race strong and to make a good showing.  The guys who beat me were stronger on the day and that’s something that I’m totally fine with.

I ended up maintaining my third place standing for the season, something I’m super happy about.

Lil' Mule Project

I've been meaning to build up an Urban Assault Vehicle for some time now.  I'm starting with my old Trek 990 bought used for $450 back in 1989.  I had it powder-coated safety orange a few years ago. 

Phase 1 will be new tires and brakes.  Oh also need to remove those purple bar ends.

Do Something About It

The cool thing about bicycle racing is the Category system.  Basically it makes racing more fun and competitive by pitting folks of roughly (and I do mean roughly) equivalent abilities against one another.  The system is far from perfect and it's not uncommon for a guy/gal to race in a too low category, in the parlance of bike racing the guy/gal should "cat up."

Lately I've been getting my butt kicked by a guy who should definitely cat up.  Now I could complain to the race organizers and request that they send the guy a gentle nudge, but instead I chose this option:

You want to win - work harder than the other guy.

Why So Serious

What I enjoy most about Cyclocross racing is its accessibility.  Here in Seattle the races have a Beginner class, which oftentimes has one of the largest fields of the day.  On the other hand, road, criterium and track events are daunting, no question about it, and few folks have the nerve to just “show up and try.”  Mountain bike racing is a bit more of a come one come all attitude, but even there it’s easy to feel intimidated: “am I a good enough rider to handle the technical portions, what if I get hurt or have a mechanical out in the woods, what if I get lost” these types of anxieties tend to keep newbys out of the race.  In cross the prevailing attitude is (or at least should be): “well what’s the worst that could happen.”

On the flipside the Beginners are often the bane of my existence.

In every race there are probably twelve to twenty guys who are in it to win it.  They train hard, they do a proper warm-up they learn the course, their bikes are prepped and ready to go, in other words they take this stuff seriously.  In a race I’ve noticed that nearly everyone throws down hard, I’ve rarely seen or encountered a person who is just out there on a sightseeing tour, but for those twelve to twenty guys the digging is just a little deeper, the pain just a tiny bit crisper.

On Sunday I was holding off a juggernaut of five strong guys, if I held them off I’d be on the podium, if they absorbed me I’d be in ninth – at best.  I was sitting one point out of second place in the series standings with the possibility – if I managed to hold third – of actually moving into first place, depending on how my two rivals fared behind me.  In other words the race was getting serious.

By lap four I was catching up with the tail end of the Beginner guys who had started a few minutes behind.  I’d yell “on your left” and nine times out of ten the guy would move right and shout words of encouragement.  Once or twice I think the guy thought I was telling him to move left, and thus did so causing me to ride into the tape or into blackberry bushes.

With two to go, I was approaching a short punchy hill with three guys in front.  The good line up the hill was to the left, in the center were slick tree roots and the right-hand turn at the top was too tight if you took the hill on the right.  For me riding the hill was critical if I was going to hold my position.

The three guys each duffed the hill and as I started up I yelled “get out of my way!”  Not nice I’ll admit.  I ended up having to do an awkward dismount.

As I ran past, one of the guys said “hey man you know we’re beginners right.”

I replied “I’m fighting for third here man.”  That’s about all I had breath for.

I’m sure the guy thought of me as a jerk.  Third place big deal. 

For me, at the time, it was a big deal.  I was full on pushing the red line; third place had become all or nothing.

It’s a fine line trying to balance “hey it’s just a race” on the one hand with “this is what I’ve spent six months training for” on the other.  Yeah I know I’m just a Cat 4 Masters guy competing in some local race, but I take this stuff seriously, I put in the time, I put in the effort and it matters.  Next time I’ll try not to be such a dick, but I can’t make any promises.

Riding Into Randy's Crack

This past weekend we Pacific Northwesterners raced Cyclocross at the Warren G. Magnuson City Park on the shores of Lake Washington in sunny and warm Seattle.  I know we all want that cross weather, but sunny skies and seventy degrees is hard not to love.

Magnuson is a mostly flat and fast course with a long paved section, a tricky descent into 

Darryl rocking the rocks - Peter Clancy Photo

“Randy’s Crack,” some twisty grass, a punchy hill, a run-up and a steady climb/bombing descent.  Folks call it a roadie course – as opposed to a technical course – and I suppose that’s fairly accurate.

I lined up with the usual suspects for the Cat 4 Masters race.  After the call-up Terry has us move twenty five yards up the road to a spot that was much narrower than where the initial lineup had occured.  The front row is supposed to be eight wide, we now had ten in the space for a legit six (looks like we had a couple of poachers).  We were bar-to-bar.  I looked left, then right and saw two guys who always beat me off the line.  I figured if I go all hole shot mode I might end up getting run over by at least some of the sixty guys behind me, so my strategy was to hang a little back at the start, let things separate on the long road section and then move up as well as I could.



Native Bob in front, me in distant second - Peter Clancy Photo

My plan was a terrific success and I hit the grass in a solid fourth.  My Bellingham rival was leading strong, followed by Native Bob who was trailed by a guy in a Platypus kit.  Native Bob is a little too strong to be a Cat 4, and I knew if I wanted to finish well I would have to mark his wheel.  When he went around Bellingham I went with him, sadly so did a big Epic guy.  Big Epic didn’t hold on for long and soon it was me and Native Bob.  At first Native Bob was riding a sane pace, strong but not crazy, but then he put on the afterburners and got a good gap.  I went around Big Epic and found myself dangling in the wind ten seconds behind Native Bob and maybe eight to ten seconds in front of the steam roller that was Leavenworth Luke, Dodi, Bellingham, another Fisher guy, Flatbar and Tux (named for his Tuxedo print kit).

Feeling the Steam Roller coming - Peter Clancy Photo

I was thinking about dropping back in order to do some pack riding when a second Epic guy - Little Epic - screamed past.  He’d really put on the gas and got an immediate gap.  Forget dropping back, now it’s chase mode.  Little Epic went down hard at the barriers hard, it looked bad, but he got up immediately and didn’t miss a beat.  I stayed within spitting distance for a couple of laps but by lap four he was too far gone – unless he really exploded there was no way I was going to catch him.  I knew that Native Bob had the gas to stay in front to the line, so at that point I was in it for third.

The final stretch into the finish line was into the wind and I was really scared that the steam roller could all work together to pull me in on the last hundred yards, so I pushed hard up the final ascent, took some risk on the descent and luckily managed to grab the wheel of a fairly strong guy from another category coming down the finish straight.

I had ridden alone for nearly the entire race and was super excited about the podium finish.  That result now pulls me up into second place for the series.

Cheap Energy

Took a long ride yesterday trying to scope out a route for Saturday's team ride.  Stopped in a grocery store looking for calories.  This monster is 430 calories and set me back one thin dollar.  That's 0.23cents/calorie.  Gotta be one of the cheapest forms of energy on the planet.  On the flip side downed that thing and felt like crap for the next 20 miles.  Cause and effect?  I don't know.

Four of these and you could do an Ironman

Pic of the Day - Stumpjumper

Matt Staniger takes third at MFG#3

Pics of the Day - Strong Finish

Matt's putt'n on a gun show

Erik holding on for third 

Pic of the Day - 12,400

Crossing Longley Pass - 12,400'.  Sierra Mountains